This invention relates to a control apparatus for a plane working robot. More particularly, it relates to an apparatus for controlling a running path of a working robot for conducting work such as cleaning, painting, finishing or inspecting, etc. with respect to a plane portion such as a floor surface, a wall surface or a window, of a building while self-running along a predetermined running path.
Generally, for all working robots to work while self-running on a plan an surface, it is necessary to control their running paths in accordance with a predetermined control method. As such plane working robots, various kinds of robots are used in many fields. There are proposed e.g., a robot for cleaning the floor surface of a structure such as a building, or the bottom surface of a pool or a water tank while self-running, a floor finishing robot for leveling or polishing the concrete floor of a building being constructed, a wall surface working robot for carry our work such as cleaning or tile-setting etc. to a vertical plane such as a wall surface or a window of a building, a robot for carrying goods or parts, etc. while self-running within a warehouse or a factory, and a robot for performing various inspections in especially dangerous places such as a transforming station and the like. For these, plane working robots, the running path during self-running should be efficiently controlled and various constraints of the working environment must be overcome.
A control apparatus for an automatic cleaning robot as an example of the above-mentioned running path control apparatus will now be described.
In the conventional control apparatus, the following procedure is implemented. Namely, a cleaning robot is caused to self-run along an obstacle such as a wall or guide means, such as a groove, prior to actual learning to store an external edge of a working area in advance. A running path within the working area is then computed in accordance with a predetermined algorithm on the basis of the area external edge information, thus to determine the running path. The method of determining the running path will be described with reference to FIGS. 25 and 26.
The area whose periphery is encompassed by a guide object 262 as shown in FIG. 26 is assumed as a cleaning area 260. Initially, an automatic cleaning robot R is positioned at a start position 262 of the cleaning area 260. Then, the setting button of a manipulation unit 17 having a panel 17a and pendant 17b, (not illustrated in FIG. 26) is depressed to input coordinates (x.sub.o, y.sub.o) of the start position 262 and a reference .theta..sub.o in a traveling direction to a computational processing section 251 of a control unit 250 (see FIG. 25) through an interface 253. These values are thus set. Then, the robot R is caused to learn by running around path 263 along the guide object 261 such as a wall. Thus, the computational processing unit 251 computes, every moment, a current position (x, y) and a traveling direction .theta. on the basis of sense signals transmitted through the interface 253 from a detecting unit 16 such as a direction sensor 16a, a running distance sensor 16b, and an obstacle sensor 16c. The unit 16 also has a fall prevention sensor 16d and touch sensor 16e. The computational processing unit 251 sequentially transmits computed results to a memory section 252 to allow the memory section 252 to store and hold them therein, and to determine the cleaning area 260 on the basis of these computed results, thus to compute an optimum running path 264 within the determined cleaning area 260. Then, the computational processing unit 251 controls a running unit 14 and a steering unit 15 through the interface 253 so that the learning robot R runs along the computed running path while learning using a cleaning unit 13. The robot R is stopped at a terminating position 265.
In such a conventional automatic working robot such as the cleaning robot R, it is necessary that the working area is partitioned by an obstacle or a guide object such as a wall, etc. For this reason, there was the problem that the working area could not be set unless an obstacle or a guide such as a wall, etc. was present, and therefore the work could not be automatically carried out as a matter of course. Accordingly, when working in an area which was not partitioned by a guide object, etc., it was necessary to install a suitable guide object. The work required for installing a guide object was very troublesome. Consequently, when working for an area which was not partitioned by a guide object, etc., the working robot demonstrated low efficiency and lackness in flexibility.
In addition, where the working area was altered, it was required to carry a working robot to the altered working area each time to allow the working robot to learn by running along the outer periphery of that working area for a second time, resulting in the problem that the work took much time.